Boys Basketball: Stamford knocks off Weston

By JOE RYAN Hour Correspondent

Published
4:09 pm EST, Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann Weston High School Boys Basketball player #12 Nikholas Parker goes up for the shot against Stamford during holiday tournament play at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk Wednesday night.

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann Weston High School Boys Basketball player #12 Nikholas Parker goes up for the shot against Stamford during holiday tournament play at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk Wednesday

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann Weston High School Boys Basketball player #12 Nikholas Parker goes up for the shot against Stamford during holiday tournament play at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk Wednesday night.

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann Weston High School Boys Basketball player #12 Nikholas Parker goes up for the shot against Stamford during holiday tournament play at Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk Wednesday

NORWALK — Black Knight head coach Dan Melzer is not going to apologize if his team’s style is less than pleasing to the basketball purist.

Melzer is a fighter who learned basketball through black eyes and scrapped knees on the playgrounds of Stamford and the only thing he won’t forgive his squad for is backing down.

There was no retreat in the Black Knights on Wednesday night as the bounced back for a 59-46 win over Weston in the consolation game of the Kuzco Tournament played at Brien McMahon.

“I don’t remember too many games as physical as that game tonight. It was a war, “said Melzer. “We just played so tough and that's what Stamford basketball is all about and I’m just so proud to coach a team with that much heart.”

Stamford (2-1) was coming off a heart-breaking 70-64 to Joel Barlow in overtime where Melzer admitted his squad just did not play up to their capabilities. The Black Knight wasted little time in grabbing the early lead against the Trojans as Stamford went four for seven from three-point land to establish an early 16-10 lead after one quarter.

Weston head coach Mike Hvizdo called early treys daggers which basically set the tone for the game which the Trojans could not reverse.

Stamford’s three-guard attack led the way as Yancarlos Marte led the way with 15 points while Nico Laveris added 14 and Jay Devito chipped in 13 points. The trio was responsible for the Black Knight’s early advantage with Laveris scoring eight of his points in the opening quarter while Marte and Devito chipped in long three-pointers as Stamford took the lead for good.

“We definitely wanted to come out strong especially coming after a loss,” said Devito. “So we didn’t want to come out flat. We’ve been practicing very hard and it finally translated into the game tonight.”

Melzer would not disagree with the importance of the early lead but added his team unrelenting hustle and battling allowed the Black Knights to keep Weston on the ropes all game.

Tevin St. John, Steffon Harding and Nii Pobee battled on the boards all night. St. John finished with 11 points and five rebounds.

“We probably got 90 percent of the loose balls,” said Melzer. “We were diving on floor, taking charges and ripping the ball out of opponent’s hands. They go after the ball. It is one thing this team does. We do it in practice and it translated into the game tonight. We know if we are going to be good we need our bigs to be a factor and they were tonight.”

The second quarter saw Stamford struggle by going almost four minutes without scoring but the Trojans still could not solve the Black Knight defense which allowed Stamford to take a 27-19 lead into intermission

Another trey and a pretty assist by Marte on a hoop by St. John stretched the Black Knight lead to 32-20 but Weston rallied behind some strong play by Hamilton Forsythe and Zach Clevenger chipped away at the deficit but a late three-pointer by Devito restored the Stamford lead to 42-31with one quarter remaining.

Devito added a dribble-drive for a lay-in to start the final frame which Marte followed with a pretty baby-hook while slicing across the lane to deliver two more jabs at the Trojans before Laveris added another long range shot for the final haymaker to put the game out of reach.

Forsythe led Weston with 17 points and Clevenger finished with 12. Weston is now 0-3 but Hvizdo understands it is all part of the growing process for his team.

“We just didn’t execute. We just can’t take plays off when we are trying to find our identity,” said Hvizdo. “We’re a young team and Stamford plays hard.”

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